Expert: Ken Alan - 5/10/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I'm a male, but I've been looking at my calves lately and have been thinking that they look a little disproportionate compared to my body. So I have two questions

1) How do I tell if my calves are muscle or fat? I mean when I
  stand and tighten it, there's hardly anything to pinch.
  But when I sit down or sit on the floor and flatten them, they
  look like blobs and don't even look like muscle, but more like fat..is this muscle or fat? If it's muscle I can't do anything about it, but if it's fat. I'm looking forward to losing it.
2) I have a bit of tummy fat and a little of the "man boob" fat.
  and I also have fat on my thighs, like REALLY massive fat.
  If I lose those fat (most of it) will my calves decrease in    
  size?

ANSWER: Without seeing you, its not possible to determine your percentage of body fat. Your calves are composed of two main muscles.  The calf area does not usually contain big amounts of fat stores.  When your calf muscles are relaxed, they are soft and will "spread out".  When they are working,(like when standing), they will be tighter.

Unfortunately, you cannot choose where to lose fat when you are trying to lose fat.  Wherever excess fat is stored on the body is where it will come off when you diet and/or exercise.  You can't just decide to lose it from the chest but not the calves. It sounds like you should get together with a qualified personal trainer to help guide you and teach you about your body and how to change it or improve it.  It's worth it if you're serious about the appearance and performance of your body.

Hope this helps!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey, is it true that if I exercise in the morning without eating breakfast, that my body uses burns muscle as fuel? And does it actually burn muscle from mostly from the legs? Because I do running....

Answer
If you haven't eaten any food in 5 days, yes it's true.  I assume you eat regularly though.  So the answer is no.  Muscle is mostly water and protein, neither of which is optimal fuel for exercise. You burn glucose and glycogen first when you exercise. Those are the sugars in the blood, muscles, and liver. If you keep exercising long enough, you start to burn fat as a fuel along with the glucose and glycogen.  And it doesn't come just from the legs because you're running.

Hope this helps.